9 Benefits of Walking Barefoot

Did you know that the soles of your feet have thousands of nerve endings?  In fact, there are more nerve endings in your feet than any comparable size on your body.  All of those nerve endings do amazing things.  80% of the sole of each foot is exposed to the floor when you walk barefoot.  All of those precious nerves send messages to your brain with every step.  These nerves are signalling your brain that the ground is cold, hot, wet, dry, hard, soft or uneven, which is very important.

Going barefoot (or “earthing”) has many health benefits.  It keeps the information highway to our brains alive and fresh.  It reduces inflammation, blood clot​ risk and also stress.  It improves sleep and blood glucose regulation.  

 

This Bank Holiday, with the promised good weather, is the perfect time to kick off your shoes and walk barefoot and here are 9 reasons why!

 

1.  Greater Strength and Balance

When we wear shoes, they offer extra support to our feet and we stop using all of our muscles, which then stop working as hard as they’re supposed to.  Try balancing on one leg, first barefoot, then with shoes and see the difference!  Walking barefoot strengthens and stretches all the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in our feet.  This helps improve balance, and prevents injury, knee strain and reduces back problems. 

 

2.  Improved Sleep Patterns

Early studies are showing that the health benefits come from the relationship between our bodies and the electrons in the earth.  The planet has its own natural charge, and we seem to do better when we’re in direct contact with it - regularly going barefoot can stabilise circadian rhythms and give the body an opportunity to calibrate its physiological rhythms with the Earth’s, which can help improve sleep.  In addition, the act of feeling the ground strengthens our senses and helps re-map the brain. 

 

3.  Healthier Feet

We didn’t evolve to wear shoes - they constrict our feet.  Our toes can’t spread properly and they’re squeezed and pushed in ways that just don’t feel good!  This causes over-sweating, rubbing and soreness.  Walking barefoot allows our muscles, ligaments and bones to be used in the way that nature intended.  As our feet get stronger by going barefoot, conditions such as plantar fasciitis diminish, bunions begin to reduce and other conditions, such as hammertoes, go away.  It can even be beneficial for arthritic joints in the feet, which begin to heal as they develop greater strength, flexibility and benefit from increased blood flow.

 

4.  Better Circulation

Going barefoot increases the blood flow to the feet and legs because the soles of the feet become more stimulated.  This increased blood flow means fewer aches and pains, and warmer feet in winter.

 

5.  Improved Posture

The average running or walking shoe has a heel of 2-5 cm, so they tilt us forward from our pelvis.  To compensate and to stop ourselves from falling over, we have to push our bottoms backwards and bend forward at the waist.  This strains our hamstrings, lower back, upper back, shoulders and neck. By going barefoot, this tilt is undone and our spine can return to its natural shape.  Bare feet can feel the ground and the nerve endings on the soles tell us that we’re leaning or tilting forward and our posture can then improve.

  

6.  Decreased Blood Pressure and Stress

Studies show that when we go barefoot, we stimulate the nerve endings on the bottoms of our feet.  This decreases blood pressure and also stress hormones (the fight or flight response of the body).  One very interesting investigation, published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found that earthing increases the surface charge of red blood cells.  As a result, the cells avoid clumping, which decreases blood viscosity.  High viscosity is a significant factor in heart disease, which is why so many people take blood thinning aspirin each day to improve their heart health. 

 

7. Reduced Pain and Inflammation

Studies have shown that free radicals, the cause of inflammation, are positively charged.  If they are not drained, they build up in our bodies and cause inflammation and cell/tissue damage.  The Earth naturally carries a huge negative charge.  Direct contact with the ground allows us to discharge free radicals.

 

8. Strengthened Immune System

In a comprehensive report published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, researchers found that walking barefoot can actually decrease white blood cell count and increase red blood cell count, indicating a positive immune response.

 

9.  Reflexology Benefits

By walking barefoot, the reflexes located on the bottoms of your feet are stimulated which has a positive affect by decreasing inflammation and pain, decreasing blood pressure, reducing stress and tension and stimulating many other healing processes of the body.  

 

www.barefoot-reflexology.co.uk

 

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